Blumenthal, activists target environmental bills

Activists speak against the proposed rollback of the Endangered Species Act on the Long Wharf Nature Preserve Friday.

Activists speak against the proposed rollback of the Endangered Species Act on the Long Wharf Nature Preserve Friday.

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Activists speak against the proposed rollback of the Endangered Species Act on the Long Wharf Nature Preserve Friday.

Activists speak against the proposed rollback of the Endangered Species Act on the Long Wharf Nature Preserve Friday.

Photo: Clare Dignan / Hearst Connecticut Media

Blumenthal, activists target environmental bills

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NEW HAVEN — Last week a bald eagle was spotted on the Long Wharf Nature Preserve, the sight of which was enjoyed by a group of children part of an environmental education day camp. The species is one of many that have been brought back from near extinction through protection efforts.

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Advocates say the eagles and other species are being threatened by bills being pushed by congressional Republicans seeking to roll back environmental protections of the Endangered Species Act.

On the grounds of the Long Wharf Nature Preserve, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., New Haven Land Trust Executive Director Justin Elicker, Connecticut Audubon Society Executive Director Patrick Comins and other environmental activists criticized President Donald Trump’s administration of selling out to special interest groups of oil and gas over the environment.

“This site represents the challenge that we face in modern America,” Blumenthal said of the nature preserve. “You are literally in sight and sound of major interstate highway yet this piece of land is extraordinarily valuable to species like the bald eagle that are here today because of the ESA.” The act was signed in 1973 by President Richard Nixon, who during its signing said, “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed,” the New Yorker reported.

“In those days, the environment was a bipartisan cause, sadly not so much today,” Blumenthal said. “It is a bipartisan cause outside of Washington, D.C., It is bipartisan cause for the people of the United States, but in our nation’s capital where the interest of oil and gas and other special interests hold such sway, environmental interest often take a backseat.”

Now that the Republicans control Congress and the White House, they plan on making a few changes, including a major one to the Endangered Species Act. For a long time, many have felt that the act not only protected endangered species but also hinders drilling, mining, logging and other activities. The act was originally put in place in 1973 after the bald eagle risked extinction. Others that have been protected and since recovered include American crocodiles, whooping cranes, and more. While Republicans argue that the law is too broad, others worry that if the law is changed, it will turn from areas that are protected to limits on hunting protected animals.

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The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing gray wolves, Florida manatees and humpback whales back from near extinction. The landmark act made the U.S. the first nation to declare a basic right of existence for species other than humans. More than 2,000 plants and animals are listed on the ESA, many of which are in Connecticut and have benefited from the act’s protections, such as the piping clover, northern long-eared bat, bog turtle, red knot, brown pelican and bald eagle, Comins said.

“Without protections of ESA the piping clover wouldn’t be here today,” he said.

The bills seek to make designations for threatened species more difficult to attain and limit the preservation of habitats .

One of the bills in Congress would require the government to consider the cost to business before adding a new animal to the list, not simply the scientific factors, Comins said. Under current regulations, government agencies are supposed to decide what species need safeguarding “without reference to possible economic or other impacts.” But Republicans pushing the bills want to do away with that, Blumenthal said.

“The bald eagle exists today because of the Endangered Species Act,” Elicker said. “If we start to dismantle, which Donald Trump is doing, this incredible work to protect species, our children won’t be able to enjoy a national treasure.”

The interest of senate Republicans to cut these protections is the opportunity to grow the economy by way of creating roads, pipelines, or mines in habitats, CBS reported. But Elicker said protecting species isn’t at odds with growing an economy.

“The conversation should not be framed as either you’re with a species or you’re with jobs,” he said. “This is about us cherishing our environment and supporting people to have more jobs and supporting our economy.”

Put simply, Blumenthal said “Destroying a bald eagle would not be a job creator. There’s nothing about the extinction of a species that supports jobs or grows the economy. The two are far from incompatible. They go together. Good stewardship of the environment promotes the economy.”

If the proposed changes to the ESA are made, at-risk species are in danger of becoming threatened or extinct in the time the government decides to take action.

“We have to get it right for the sake of our environment,” Blumenthal said. “If we count on reversing the rollback in a future administration, we’re going to lose species in the meantime.”